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| Two international scientific journals have already published the new genes identified by biologist Marta Terry in her doctoral thesis | Plants coordinate the odor they emit into the environment, and they also use odors as an outside identity card.
Thus, herbivores, fungi or pollinators can be attracted to one of them, just as people feel a preference for those plants that are more pleasant to us.
These are the main novelties found in the doctoral thesis of the biologist Marta Terry López, defended this Monday at the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT).These conclusions, transferred to the day to day, explain why flowers such as the dondiego at night or the don pedro, the jasmines, the lady or the gallant at night, smell during the night while the roses do it during the day.
And transferred to vegetables, why some cucumber varieties have a spicy flavor if they are collected at six in the afternoon, derived from the compounds accumulated throughout the day as a consequence of the synthesis control by the circadian clock.Marta Terry has identified genes of the circadian clock that, among other functions, temporarily coordinate the odors produced in response to the environment.
The circadian clock is a complex of genes that coordinates many biological aspects from bacteria, plants, and animals.
For example, it is responsible for our daytime habit, compared to cats in the night habit.
A petunia gene identified in the doctoral thesis has been called CHANEL, as it is a general regulator of flower perfume.
Another gene identified in Antirrhinum, popularly known as dragon's mouth, is the LHY gene whose function is to determine the time of day when certain scented compounds are produced.
Cells and Genes, two scientific journals with a high impact index, have published three papers with the work carried out during the doctoral thesis since they represent an important advance in knowledge with immediate technological implications, point out the directors of the thesis, Marcos Egea Gutiérrez- Cortines and Julia Weiss, professors in the area of ??Genetics.
The thesis tests, “Analysis of the circadian clock and its role in scent emission in antirrhinum majus and petunia hybrida”, have been carried out during the last five years in the laboratories of the Institute of Plant Biotechnology, in the Tomás Ferro Farm and in the University of Amsterdam.
Marta Terry has developed her thesis within the UPCT Advanced Techniques in Agri-Food Research Doctorate program, in which agricultural engineers, chemists, biotechnologists, food technologists, biologists and even a law graduate are trained, since it is a program with a wide coverage of research lines.
Source: UPCT
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